One hundred sixty-two southern Illinois natives lost their lives in the Vietnam War. They will join their 58,300 fallen comrades in memorial at the practice football field, south of Saluki Stadium.

A travelling replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial wall is on display from Thursday through Sunday.

The opening ceremony will take place 6:30 p.m. at the practice football fields, just south of Saluki Stadium. Retired Maj. Gen. Randal Thomas, who is also chair of the SIU Board of Trustees, will be the keynote speaker.

The 360-foot aluminum wall is a replica that is 80 percent the size of the official memorial in Washington D.C., which commemorates the American soldiers who lost their lives in Vietnam.

Mark “Skip” Cosgrove, chair of the 20-person planning committee and Vietnam veteran, began working on bringing the wall to SIU in November 2012. He was appointed chair of the planning committee by former Chancellor Rita Cheng.

The planning committee raised $46,000 of its $50,000 goal to bring the wall to Carbondale and advertise the event. Most of the money was raised through face-to-face donations, but the committee will also sell shirts at the memorial. Cosgrove wants to donate all additional revenue to veteran’s services in the area.

He said he is thankful for the support from the university to host the wall.

“Interim Chancellor [Paul] Sarvela and President [Randy] Dunn have not missed a step from where we started with former Chancellor Cheng,” Cosgrove said.

He identified 162 southern Illinois veterans on the memorial, four of them SIU graduates.

Paul Copeland, coordinator of Veterans Services and a 27-year Air Force veteran, chaired the volunteer subcommittee to help campus veterans participate. He has organized 145 volunteers for the event.

One volunteer is Ian Wiser, a senior from Mount Carmel studying civil engineering. He did survey work for the placement of the wall as a part of the College of Engineering’s Leadership Development Program. Wiser measured the practice field to make sure the dimensions of the wall would fit properly.

“It was fun to actually put my civil engineering skills to work,” Wiser said.

Copeland hopes “double-digit thousands” will come pay their respects.

“Vietnam veterans didn’t receive the same sort of welcome back that you see for veterans today,” Copeland said. “It’s important for us to take a look back through history and remember that time and acknowledge the service of those who didn’t receive that recognition at the time.”

The wall will serve as an educational opportunity for southern Illinois students as well. Cosgrove said local schools, as far as Effingham, have been learning about Vietnam. Thirteen schools, totaling more than 2,000 students, are attending on Friday.

“There are generations of people with little to no knowledge about Vietnam,” Cosgrove said. “It always seems to get lost in the shuffle of lesson plans.”

Copeland wants to create a Gold Star Salukis program to commemorate students and graduates killed in battle. After World War II, gold stars were issued to the families who lost loved ones overseas. He hopes to create a memorial, either physical or online, for those fallen Salukis, as well as a scholarship foundation for future students.

“We want to recognize them in this historic sense for the ROTC cadets coming through these programs to know they have predecessors that served and served well,” Copeland said.

As for a goal, Cosgrove has a simple answer.

“It is important to provide an opportunity for people to pay respects and for vets to begin healing,” he said. “If this wall can help just one veteran begin their process of healing, or completing their journey, then this event will be a success.”

The memorial will be open 24 hours a day, until it leaves Sept. 14 for Oregon. The Saluki football team’s annual military appreciation game will take place Sept. 13 against Southeast Missouri State University.